A goods arrangement method and system, in which a storage arrangement apparatus is included to temporarily store goods and discharge them while arranging them, has already become popular. The method and system are described in, for example, Japanese Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 51-32035. This prior art includes a gradient storage shelf made up of gravity roller conveyors that are arranged in the form of a matrix of multiple stories and multiple columns. Goods are fed through an inlet located at a higher end of each gravity roller conveyor, running autonomously toward an outlet at a lower end thereof, and then stored sequentially on the gravity roller conveyor. For four-storied gravity roller conveyors, four carrier conveyors are installed up and down. On each story, a single carrier conveyor runs through outlets of all gravity roller conveyors on the story. The ends of the four carrier conveyors merge into a single merge conveyor, wherein the first carrier conveyor merges into the merge conveyor at the first position, the second carrier conveyor merges into the merge conveyor at the second position that is separated by a specified distance from the first position in the direction in which the merge conveyor carries goods, and the third and fourth carrier conveyors merge into the merge conveyor with a specified distance between them in the direction in which the merge conveyor carries goods. Goods are therefore carried in a row in the direction in which the merge conveyor carries goods. In this prior art, the carrier conveyors and merge conveyor are controlled in speed so that goods carried by, for example, the first and second carrier conveyors will not collide with one another.
In the foregoing prior art, goods are carried in a row in the direction in which the merge conveyor carries goods. Compared with a system in which goods are supplied in rows in the direction in which the merge conveyor carries goods, the aforesaid system is slow in handling goods.
Furthermore, in the prior art, goods cannot be carried simultaneously by four carrier conveyors. This further reduces the goods handling speed of the system.
The prior art has not disclosed relevant equipment used before and after the storage arrangement apparatus.